Another Take

I suppose I have more to add to the "what it means to be ..." thought. I substitute in the ellipsis this time because I think this applies to the 'other half' as well.

Responding to adversity. Who you have been, who you are, and who you will be, all of these are very connected to your resilience.

Life deals us some pretty hard stuff sometimes.

And sometimes the source of the 'hard stuff' makes it even harder. Sometimes people, causes, movements, or whatever other thing that you have invested blood, sweat, and tears into are the source of your adversity, disappointment, frustration, setback, hurt, pain or whatever. (Sometimes the source is a painfully long sentence.)

Do you feel me now?

Can I get an uh huh?

How much does it suck when you have given your heart to something, and 'the universe' doesn't reciprocate. (Ease up Christians!) There is no 'yang' to your 'yin'. Nothing but 'take' to your 'give'. Your sacrifice feels exploited. Your generosity overlooked. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Would you like a magnum of cheese with all that whine?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that lament, mourning, and grieving are invalid.

What I am saying is that we all need to respond appropriately. You may have heard this wisdom concerning calm (or a better representation of it as I'm going from memory here). When a pebble is tossed into a pond, a splash occurs, then ripples, as the energy of the pebble is transferred out across the surface of the pond. The ripples bounce off of the edges of the pond, then dissipate. Finally, the pond returns to its previous state. Water responds perfectly proportionately to whatever disturbs it, it never over reacts or under reacts.

You have a brain, and as a result intelligence. Granted to you by the ultimate intelligence. (Yep, I'm a creationist, a deist, and I'll raise you a few chips to God-fearing Christian!)

Do we believe that we might reach a point where we neither over react or under react?

Do our Darwinian ancestors have this ability? I dunno. And for the record, I'm not a subscriber to that theory! I do know that I have seen chimps go 'apes%#*!', and it doesn't look remarkably different from some people. And as far as I'm concerned, the rest of y'all are simply going 'ape%#*!' on the inside!

So, back to the point. I think that a huge part of what it means to be a real man, woman, or just generally human, is your ability to respond proportionately to times when 'poop happens'. Yes, life can be really 'poopy'. But c'mon playa, how long are you going to cry about it?

Get some friends.

Lean on them.

Ask them to lean back.

Love, live, and forgive.

You don't have time to be bitter. (Yeah, Dave.)

Be the human you were created (yeah, you can substitute 'evolved', but you are on your own with that!) to be!

Find the calm in between the stones.

Ripple proportionately.

Don't ever stop giving of yourself!